Unlike every other town, we don't have a plan for downtown so when state officials say we have to put something there, we do it,

There is an emergency operations plan [for the town]. We update it when we need to.

The Downtown Oak Park Plan anticipates improvements to the underpass,

We originally came here because it was a nice small town, and it had a quaint little downtown area.

I really got into officiating to try and get things organized. I went to the state (officials) organization and began to put together a directory of officials, especially at the junior-high level. I think it gave a lot of new people a resource in how to get officials and how to get involved.

When you get downtown, it's almost like Katrina didn't touch it. There's still a lot of misunderstanding, and (Mardi Gras) is a chance to really let people know that we're open.